At 48 Panera Cafes, You Can Pay Whatever You Want (Or Nothing) For Turkey Chili

Can’t afford a hot meal? Panera will now give you one. It’s the latest in the company’s experiments in letting customers set their own price.

Go to any of the 48 Panera Bread cafés in the St. Louis area and you’ll notice something strange: You can pay whatever you want for your turkey chili. In fact, you could pay nothing at all, and that would be just fine.

Panera’s charitable foundation already operates a cafe in the St. Louis area with its entire menu offered on a “Pay what you want” basis.

Panera isn’t the only restaurant in the U.S. serving food from a menu with no prices. The SAME cafe in Denver serves food “So All Might Eat”. The cafe’s menu has no price structure other than “Pay what you can.”